Let’s stop blaming Ralph Nader’s supporters for voting for their preferred candidate and seize this opportunity to reform this perverse system where “a vote for the best is a vote for the worst.”
If Illinois were to implement instant runoff voting (IRV), voters would be empowered to rank the candidates for each office. If no candidate receives a majority (more than 50 percent) of first-place votes, then the least-popular candidate is eliminated and the second-place choices of his/her supporters are distributed. This process continues until one candidate surpasses the 50 percent necessary to win.
Under this system, everyone would be able to vote for his or her favorite candidate without the fear of helping to elect his or her least favorite, winners would necessarily hold a mandate from a majority of voters and the “spoiler” problem would be completely eliminated.
IRV is not compatible with punch cards, but because there is now considerable momentum to update these archaic systems, this is the perfect moment to push for their replacement.
